Avicii

Sterling Fox(born Brandon Lowry) is a songwriter from New York via Pennsylvania. He is one of the many talented writers working behind the scenes on hits like Gym Class Heroes’s “Stereo Hearts” and Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” (literally, Fox co-wrote and co-produced the first and co-produced the second). It is a good lifestyle–being able to do something you love professionally–albeit sometimes frustrating not being publicly rewarded for your work. This is the music industry, and there is talent everywhere. With recent features on tracks with Avicii and Skizzy Mars and his own burgeoning solo career, Sterling is finally getting some of the recognition he deserves. I was lucky enough to interview the rising star and discuss his work with mainstream artists, his love for NYC, and what is next for pop music.

And yes, he is on Sunset Selections, our biggest mixtape of the year, dropping this Thursday (10/10).

I love this song, and it makes me sad that Avicii didn’t push “Wake Me Up” a bit harder in the spring. I’m sure it would have BLOWN up this summer if he had. Whatever. Today (yesterday, actually, but I’m the worst blogger ever) we have the music video for said song, featuring vocals from Aloe Blacc and a whole lot of Ralph Lauren Denim & Supply (FUN ANDY FACT: I actually rowed with the dude-model with the long hair in high school). Check out the vid, and you can download the track here.

Haven’t done a Mashup Monday in a hot minute, but the time has come, my friends! Back on my grind, and in need of some good party tunes, so why not turn to mashups, naw mean? Hit the jump for a whole list of the best mashups I could get my hands on.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post, but I am back with a new feature on the site that I will be curating each Sunday recapping Sunset’s favorite songs of the week. If you fall behind on music any given week, we hope this post will get you back in the loop!

If you’ve been following Avicii since his controversial Ultra performance where he blended live country music with his set, you’ll know he’s going in an interesting direction as of late. This one features Aloe “Needs a Dollar” Blacc, and fuses Avicii’s club-ready instrumental’s with country guitar and Aloe’s beautiful, jazzy voice.

This one is really incredible. Vicktor Taiwo, who Arjun recently introduced to the site, cover’s Ben Howard’s song “Only Love.” Vicktor’s exceptionally unique R&B combines with the instrumental to make a dreamy, driving, gorgeous song. Perhaps my favorite from the entire week.

Thanks to Dusty for bringing this to SITR, Milky Chance is an artist I had formerly been unfamiliar with. They’re kind of like Feist meets Guster meets Miike Snow, but their sound is unique and a lot of fun. With an amusing, acoustic instrumental and the lead singer’s voice that recalls Noah and the Whale, these Germans are poised to become very popular in the States.

It’s tough not to start dancing to this one. Trails and Ways describes their sound as “bossanova dreampop,” and I think that’s really the best description possible for what they have released on their new album, Trilingual. Listen to my favorite track off of that EP below, and hit the link above to stream the new EP.

Paul Otten’s “Breeze” sounds like a song that could be a breakout single this summer. Perfect for the beach and backyard barbeques, this song is simple, fun, and guarantees a good mood. Breeze will certainly be in heavy rotation in the weeks to come. Schoolboy Q – Collard Greens feat. Kendrick Lamar

Given that this one features two of my favorite MCs of the moment, it almost makes the list by default. That being said, it clearly came with high expectations, and in my mind, it exceeded them. With great verses from the two of them, TDE kills it as always.

Ok, maybe it won’t take over the world like Levels did, but this is pretty infectious. Folk gone EDM?

There’s actually been an unfinished version of this track rolling around the internet for quite some time, but here’s the official radio single from international DJ, Avicii, as he recruits Aloe Blacc for the vocals (good choice, Tim).

If anyone was wondering where I’ve been (this is Jordan) the past 5-6 weeks, I’ve been studying abroad in Asia. Exploring the different music scenes that China, South Korea, and Japan have to offer. I’m sure you could care less because I could care less if I were you. Watch this. This post was from Kyoto, Japan. Konichiwa, bishes.

Ahh, mid-August. The sun is shining, the weather is warm, and girls are still wearing sundresses. For some of you, this simply means heading back to the trusty ol’ high school and seeing your friends again. For most of us, though, this means moving back to our respective colleges for another 9 months of pretty bad decisions sprinkled with responsibility. This also means that Syllabus/Orientation/Generic Name Week is about to start.

This past Tuesday, I did my part and moved into my off-campus house here at Cornell University. Of course, having a three-floor house full of 19 year olds necessitates parties, and therefore a party playlist. I’ve been posting songs throughout the summer where I’ve mentioned that they would fit perfectly in said party playlist, but now I’m going to group together a select group to add that extra little bit to your party, because you know, I know better than you do.

1. Avicii – Levels IN REVERSE (George Monev Edit)

Yes, Levels is overplayed. And yes, it’s still awesome. But somehow, this edit by George Monev makes it MOAR AWESOMER. He takes the awesome drop that everyone knows and levels and REVERSES it. Like. what? But it’s sick. You’ll like it.

A nice little mash-up that you probably haven’t heard before, but it’s been in rotation on the andyPod (I’m bad at naming things) for a couple years now. Philistine takes Ludacris’ “How Low” with the club banger “Shine On” by Someone Whose Name Is Escaping Me Right Now. The result is a fresh track that is sure to be a hit amongst partygoers.

A fair amount of you probably know this one, but it’s worth the emphasis anyway. The DJ-duo of The Knocks delivered an upbeat, fun, original track that is going to be requested again and again and will be stuck in your head afterwards. WE DON’T CARE IF THE SUN COMES UP!!!!

You might know that I’m a big Clinton Sparks fan, and for good reason. His mix of the CLASSIC 90’s track by Semisonic (You sure it isn’t Third Eye Blind? *Justin Timberlake voice*) adds a fantastic dance-feel and will have people asking you where you found it. From Andy, that’s where.

Okay, okay, okay. Kind of a cop out here. But this remix is bringing fresh verses from Wale, Fabolous, Young Jeezy, Meek Mill, and T.I. to the table, so you aren’t going to have to listen to Tyga’s bullsh*t rapping for the entire song. It’s worth it. People will like it. I hope.

FRANK OCEAN MAY HAVE STOLEN THE SHOW AT ALL OF LOLLAPALOOZA

Although it was the shortest, Saturday was hands down my favorite day of Lollapalooza weekend. We got news around 3:30 in the afternoon that the festival was being suspended indefinitely for dangerous weather conditions. Downtown Chicago was an absolutely mess as an upwards of 100,000 concertgoers were haplessly stranded onto the city streets, wondering if they’d ever get back into the festival grounds (it was actually hilarious to see all the drunk/high/rolling people get smacked in the face by “the real world” as they had to exit the alcohol and drug safe haven of Lolla.)

It rained, it poured and the Windy City lived up to its nickname as a monsoon washed right over Grant Park. But, the storm passed and the masses were finally let back into the soggy grounds by 6:00PM. The show must go on, right?

I got the chance to see a lot of ultra-cool, mega-EDM acts this day, including Calvin Harris and Avicii in all their LED-lit glory. But you know what? Even with all the sub-bass, flashing lights and dime pieces dancing around me, none of it even came close to the satisfaction I got from witnessing Frank Ocean perform.

Mr. Ocean was something totally rare in the overwhelmingly loud, busy and high-energy vibe you typically get from music festivals like Lollapalooza. When I was standing there with my eyes closed tight at Frank, it didn’t matter how loud Avicii was bumping house just next door. It felt like it was just me and him. That’s how intimate a Frank Ocean show is. And if you think his voice was stunning on the album, it miraculously gets better live. It’s truly passion in its rawest form, and Frank may have stolen the show at all of Lollapalooza for me.

Check out the sounds from the rest of Satuday below, and enjoy visuals from the always-great Red Hot Chili Peppers performing, “Under The Bridge.”

This is an exciting time for Sunset, myself and of course you, the beloved reader. Just to give you guys a heads up, I’ll be on hiatus next week as I will be traveling to Manchester, Tennessee to cover Bonnaroo for ya’ll. I won’t have access to the Internets out in the country, but I’ll have a nice write up and presents for everybody when I return from the depths of my musical journey.

With that in mind, I’m giving you a whole extra song for your FAF playlist this weekend. I know, ya boy’s nice.

Avicii hit two million fans on Facebook. As a gift to his fans, he gave us a brand new tune ironically called Two Million. It’s great to hear some new music from him as I think it’s been a little bit since he’s dropped something new. Peep it below!

Whoa. It’s March. We also had an extra day in the year on Wednesday. If that’s not a cause for celebration this weekend, then I really don’t know what is. Get busy this weekend to the sounds below. What’s everybody doing? Is everybody else drinking green beer too?

Green beer day is one of those things you only want to happen once a year.

The usual standard for slowing down songs, or even putting them in reverse is to find a secret message, like some illuminati type shit. This isn’t the case here. George Monev flips some parts of Avicii’s greatest accomplishment to create Levels…in reverse! I’m already addicted to it. You would think it would sound weird, right? Listen for yourself..but just remember, you’ve been warned!